The Good Lord Bird, McBride - B

                                          This book was a National Book Award winner and on every "best" list for the year 2013.  The premise of the novel is that in an old Negro church in Wilmington Del. in the early 60's, a deacon finds a  memoir written by Henry Schackleford, a parishioner who, as a ten year old in 1856, was liberated from slavery by John Brown. Called 'Onion' by the Captain, young Henry spends the next three years with the Browns in Kansas, Missouri, and ultimately Virginia. He is befriended by the Captain, a number of his sons, and a daughter, Anna Brown. He wryly observes the Captain's ways, which include a lot of praying, bible quoting, letter writing, mystical insights, and occasional beheadings and other murders.   Brown was a terrorist of the first order, and is depicted here as crazy as a loon.  But he was a man on a mission, and freeing slaves was the center of his universe. Sacrifices of all kinds, including the deaths of his sons, did not shake him from his appointed rounds.  The success of the book is due to Henry's unique story telling style.  After Brown reveals to his assembled men his plan to attack the Arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Henry makes the following statement. "You had to reckon, for an insane man, he sure knowed how to cook it up, and for the first time, the looks of doubt started to fall off the men's faces…." Although this novel provides some interesting perspective on Brown and the Raid, I can't say it has added much to my understanding of the era. However, it is highly entertaining and I laughed out loud a number of times.